(no subject)

[oyceter]

This is really weird. Anyhow, fannishly got Closer (with Clive Owen, Julia Roberts and etc.) at Target yesterday, and we were going to sit down and watch it today. But right now I just can't stand to watch it. I'm not quite sure what it's about -- I assume from what I've seen it's basically four people fucking around with each others' love lives and fostering attachments and the like, and that drove me absolutely crazy. Especially the Jude Law character. Gah.

I hate hate hate hate hate romantic triangles. Hate them. With a totally irrational passion. Sometimes I can do it if it's played as tragic or something, but if it's the whole stupid one guy is dating one girl but likes another but in general screws with everyone's emotions, it seriously makes me want to kill something or spork my eyes out. Witness my extreme hatred of Vaugh in Alias. I realize this is completely irrational, but I can't do it. And from what it looks like, all the characters in Closer are like this, and it is driving me crazy. I mean, literally, it is causing nidginess and extreme discomfort and sporky rage, the last which has been seen with episodes of the Apprentice or Alias.

ARGH. I irrationally detest all the people in the movie right now.

Anyhow. Apparently this is one of my huge irrational toss-a-book-against-the-wall type things.

Comments

[ann1962]

I hate hate hate hate hate romantic triangles. Hate them. With a totally irrational passion. Sometimes I can do it if it's played as tragic or something, but if it's the whole stupid one guy is dating one girl but likes another but in general screws with everyone's emotions, it seriously makes me want to kill something or spork my eyes out.

Agreed. It reveals nothing about the character except to show that they are a cad. And why the third corner of the triangle would want a cad, they can see it, is beyond my understanding.

[oyceter]

Exactly! I also hate what I see as unnecessary tension, especially since people seem to just throw it in to have another wrench in the romance.

In some cases, I am ok with it, but the author has to be very good and handle the situation delicately. Also, there can be no stupidity involved.

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

I'm really not crazy abou this type of thing, either. I think it's because, from what I've seen of triangles, etc, they never say anything much except, well, that character X, Y, and/or Z is not nice and not responsible or likes to mess around with people. What's interesting about that, really? I end up wanting to yell, GROW UP.

Not that I've seen Closer.

Otoh, I like David Lodge, so I'm not consistent here. His male leads are rarely faithful but he usually has a lot going on, I manage to like (most of) his characters anyway, and he gives men and women happy endings -- in general.

[oyceter]

Gah, yes! I have actually read a few books in which I think the romantic triangle is done well (and in quite a bit of anime, actually), but in order to make that happen, I have to be able to sympathize with all of the characters involved. Usually, though, I end up just wanting to strangle them.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

Well, I developed an irrational dislike of Closer while watching it so I think you've one up on me - you can hate the movie without having to see it.

Love triangle/squares don't bug me so much but pretentious dialogue lifted directly from the stage without any acknowledgement that film is a different medium and therefore requires a different approach drives me nuts.

[oyceter]

Ahh, see, I don't think I even got to the pretentious dialogue! I got to the scene where the doctor meets the photographer in the aquarium and decided to bail. And by that time I was already just watching out of the corner of my eyes from my computer.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I totally validate your reaction. See here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/hermionesviolin/493704.html) for my lengthy response to the film (or, ya know, don't).

[oyceter]

Ooo, thanks for the link! Your response is much more in depth than mine, probably since I could only bear to watch ten minutes of the movie ;). Reading your write up makes me glad I skipped the rest of it.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I have to really loathe something to stop in the middle (though i did quit 28 Days about halfway through 'cause i was just not enjoying it and wasn't getting anything of value out of it). My college was showing it for free, so it would have been hard to make my escape from the crowded auditorium anyhow, and i knew a lot of my friends were seeing it that night, too, so i wanted to be able to talk about the whole thing. A large portion of my commentary came from the fact that i spent about an hour afterward with a bunch of said friends doing a lot of wtf-ing and trying to figure out what the film was trying to do and what we did and didn't like and why, and then one of their housemates came home and we told her all about the movie because she hadn't been able to go, and that was loads of fun and she said she felt like she had been there with all our energetic reaction and we said she really had the best experience because she got our energetic reenactment of the movie complete with commentary without having to actually suffer through the movie.

Okay, that was kinda long and more than you probably needed to know. But yes, i totally validate quitting the movie partway through, and i'm glad you made the right decision for you.

[oyceter]

Hee, nah, I miss experiences like that. I do wish so many more LJ people lived nearer to me so I could do that, but in large part I try to do something like that on LJ.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i definitely enjoy, though i definitely do a lot of it in LJ as well (which is one of the things i so love about LJ) and especially used to when Whedon shows were airing.